GCSP Moderates “Business Continuity” Event in Turin, Italy

On 13 February 2017, Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP) Senior Programme Officer, Carlotta Ferrero served as moderator and facilitated a speakers’ debate during an event entitled, “Business Continuity” in Turin, Italy.

Skillab Italy, a training and educational center, hosted the event, which welcomed more than 40 private sector guests across the Piedmont Region. The event addressed both preparation for and management through crises and their aftermath. Representatives from the banking, automotive and insurance industries as well as those working within the legal arena and risk management consultancies were also in attendance.

Dr Carlo Maria Brazigia discussed risk mitigation during his presentation. As Head of the Business Continuity Department at Intesa San Paolo Bank, one of the largest financial institutions in Italy, he provided risk analysis and mapping procedures that already have been implemented by his bank.

Additionally, he demonstrated how the bank put a risk mitigation plan into place following a devastating earthquake in the Friuli region.

Staying on the topic of risk, a prominent lawyer and CEO of an organization dealing with infrastructure within a fragile context highlighted some of the risks and challenges posed by today’s geopolitics.

General (Ret) Carlo Cabigiosu of the General Italian Army outlined the importance of planning and being prepared for any and all possible risk and Prof. Antonio Lioy, a Cyber Security expert at Politecnico in Turin, presented several cases studies on cyberattacks and shared lessons learned from the experience.

Eager to join the discussion, representatives of Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the audience who are dealing with similar business tasks also posed questions concerning cost of prevention, as well as the need for joint assessment in specific regions. They debated if the current state of business continuity in Italy was shaped more by cost or cultural mindset, and discussed how each circumstance needed to be changed in the future.

“The turnout for this event was wonderful and the participants were so engaged in the topics,” said Ms Ferrero. “The event was a shining example of the types of projects that the GCSP works on at the regional level.”

ABOUT GCSP

The Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP) is an international foundation established in 1995, with 52 member states, for the primary purpose of promoting peace, security and international cooperation through executive education and training, applied policy analysis and dialogue.